PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is a monster of success if there ever was one. The hugely popular battle royale MOBA has single-handedly changed the landscape of the gaming industry.
Market research firm SuperData report that PUBG generated $712 million in revenue through the eight months it was available in 2017. By comparison, the entire esports industry made $756 million in 2017. For an overall picture, one could compare that amount to the current value of the Esports industry.
Esports is expected to become a billion dollar industry this year, and the study cites League of Legends and Overwatch as particular drivers of viewership, noting unique viewers numbered 258 million in 2017. The Overwatch Pro League is expected to generate millions upon millions of dollars in advertising and sponsorship revenue throughout its life.
These numbers combined are nothing compared to the titan that is the free-to-play market though. Those games generated $82 billion last year, 89% of which was across PC and mobile. 2.5 billion people are playing F2P titles on those platforms.
PUBG hit a peak of 3 million concurrent players in 2017, and it just continues to grow. One would expect there to be more reports on the growth of this and other popular titles in the future. PUBG Corp expects that success to grow, as they continue to update the title on PC and Xbox One.
